Fans Get New Access to NFL Dressing Rooms—But Don't Expect Any Dramatic Speeches

The NFL locker room is considered one of the mysterious frontiers of sports. In movies and legends, it's where the secrets come out, where the players reveal their true character and where fights go down, not to mention the words of spine-tingling inspiration that come pouring out of godlike coaches.

This year, the NFL is taking unprecedented steps to please clamoring fans and reporters, all of whom are dying to see what their heroes are doing behind the curtain to win the big game. Teams will now be required to install cameras in the locker room, for all in the stadium to view. Players have spent the last few weeks publicly and privately lamenting this loss of privacy. But really, they are concerned this move might reveal one of football's most guarded secrets: The modern NFL locker room is about as interesting as an insurance company call center.

"There's nothing—nothing—to see in there," said Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

"I guess coaches will have to be articulate now," said New York Jets linebacker Antwan Barnes, adding that the only major difference this will make is that players can't be naked all the time.

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Sen'Derrick Marks said he's wary of another potential issue: "attention seekers" finding new ways to get noticed on camera, making up speeches on the spot—even if they've never given one before.

"If I was coaching I would kick their a-- out of there because it's now going to be all theatrical," former Dallas Cowboys coach Barry Switzer said of the cameras. "You're turning coaches into damn actors. It's sickening to see that [cameras] are able to do this. It's fake, it's phony, it's not real."

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said, "fans have called the NFL the ultimate reality show. For those fans in the stadium, we're providing them with even more access." McCarthy added the league is not expecting a "'win one for the Gipper' or a Lombardi run through the walls speech, but rather we want to provide an inside look as the players get ready to come out to the field."

The rule change was approved at the league meeting in March, part of a sweeping new program to make the in-stadium experience more exciting for fans. Under the new policy, each club will have control over the distribution of the video, but the policy states that footage should be shown on the stadium video board, as well as the club's smartphone application. There's plenty of wiggle room in the rules—audio, for instance, isn't required. But this represents a major step toward the model adopted by leagues such as the NBA, where team talks are broadcast to the masses.

Of course, the question remains whether the footage will find its way to television, which pays billions in rights fees. A spokesman for CBS Sports said "We are always discussing with the NFL better access" but said they don't get into specific discussions they are having with the league.

A spokesman for Fox Sports said they haven't put in a request for access to the cameras and at the moment don't have plans to. Fox Sports is a unit of 21st Century Fox, which until late June was part of the same company as Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.

Football locker rooms have always been the sacred ground for players and coaches. The NFL has far less locker-room access for reporters than other American sports. Reporters are allowed in locker rooms after practices and games, but there's no access before games. By comparison, Major League Baseball reporters can spend more than two hours a day meandering in the clubhouse before the game. Basketball and hockey locker rooms provide similar access.

Of course, a move like the NFL's would shock the international scene: In European soccer, for instance, locker rooms are considered sacred, leaving the NFL locker room to look like a soundstage in comparison.

On a typical game day, players arrive in their luxurious locker room more than two hours before kickoff. Players usually get dressed quickly then spend most of the time stretching, running on the field or other exercises.

Players say that above all, the addition of cameras will change the public's perception of things. The major myth the new initiatives will bust, according to players, is the legend of the "rah rah" speech, famous in every high-school football movie, but rarely, if ever, given at the NFL level. Barnes said the general rule of thumb is that there's no need for such motivation in the pros and that even the best speeches don't work. "It's definitely not 'Varsity Blues,' " said Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jason Kelce, referencing the dramatic talks delivered in the 1999 film about high-school football. Marks said a typical pregame speech, if one is given at all, is simply a monotone coach going over one or two things he didn't like in practice that he thinks the team could improve on during the week. It's less fire-and-brimstone and more "remember to fill the A-gaps."

The players surrounding the coach are even more dull. A sampling of NFL players said the most common locker-room hobbies are not, in fact, screaming in each other's faces but rather listening to music, playing cards, taking a small nap or staring at a wall.

"Most guys want to be laid back, relaxed, focused, I'm not going to be the guy yelling 'let's go!'" said Eagles lineman Evan Mathis. "It won't be like 'The Program' where people are spitting in each other's faces."

For now, most locker room content will only be available for fans attending the game. The NFL has considered similar plans with allowing in-stadium fans to hear quarterback signal calls on their smartphone on a delay. They've also thought about letting fans listen in when referees chat about calls.

How the coaches respond—and whether they "play ball" remains to be seen. Coaches are notoriously paranoid and will find ways around addressing players while a camera is around them, Barnes joked. It would just be another battle in the ongoing war between coaches and marketers. Former NFL executive Frank Vuono, who led a push to get coaches to wear uniformed apparel in the 1980s, said there's a long history of pushback between the marketing-savvy league office and the crusty coaches.

"I think there are two kinds of coaches, some that are frankly thrilled to have a head coaching job in the NFL, they understand they are small cogs and want to help in any way they can," he said. "But there's no doubt there's always a group that feels there's sanctity in the locker room. Those coaches are not going to like this."

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